GOP Megadonor Could Challenge GOP Incumbent for Wyoming Senate

Foster Friess, a Republican megadonor, may mount a challenge to GOP incumbent Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming.

"Normally, over the years, I've dismissed these urgings . . . but due to the stature of the people requesting, I sense a responsibility to prayerfully explore the possibility," Friess wrote in an email to The Washington Post published Monday.

Friess wrote that part of his motivation is his concern about the U.S. healthcare system. He did not say who encouraged him to consider running, but a source close to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said that he and Friess have talked recently, The Post reported.

Bannon is allied with hedgefund executive Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, who are funding primary challengers to take on establishment Republicans, The Post reported.

The mutual fund executive came to prominence in 2012 for donating millions to a super PAC in support of Rick Santorum's campaign to win the Republican presidential nomination, The Post reported.

Barrasso's ties to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate majority leader, put him in Bannon's sights, according to The Post.

Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, is also considering a challenge to Barrasso, according to The New York Times. Prince also has been in touch with Bannon.

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